Gas/vapor separation represents a large share of processing in oil, petrochemical, nuclear and many other industries. Gas/vapor separation related to upstream and downstream of natural gas (NG) processing is often very complex and challenging, particularly at the stage of sweetening (removal of acid gases (CO2, H2S)), dehydration and BTX (Benzene, Toluene and Xylenes) removal.
The control of greenhouse gases is of societal importance because it is well recognized that it has a significant impact on climate change. Among all the greenhouse gas emissions, CO2 has received the most attention due to the large quantities of man-made emissions in the atmosphere. The CO2 atmospheric concentration has exploded to reach record levels in May 2013 of 400 parts per million (ppm), which is an unprecedented level in human history. For years, the scientific community has focused its efforts to develop different strategies to mitigate the undesirable CO2 emissions in the atmosphere from industrial activities (particularly emissions of CO2 originating from the burning of fossil fuels) and transportation. Therefore, CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) and CO2 Capture and Use (CCU) are recognized as strategies to reduce the emissions of CO2 from the atmosphere.
Among the handful of technologies that tackle this challenge, cryogenic distillation and liquid amine scrubbing are the dominant methods. Nevertheless, these technologies are highly energy intensive, hence not cost effective. Adsorption is currently recognized as one of the alternative separation technologies that can address capturing the CO2 challenge, taking into account both technical and cost effectiveness. Therefore, the choice of the suitable adsorbents that drives the separation process is of prime importance. Many materials have been investigated for their properties to adsorb CO2 selectively, which includes zeolites, carbon based materials and metal-organic frameworks.